A lot of these photos are solving mysteries I thought I would never find an answer to. I never knew exactly what happened to Manfred, Oscar’s brother. On the back of this photo, it explains that this is the family waiving goodbye to Manfred von Halle as he leaves to Columbia. Remarkable. My grandfather is above the elderly man’s (with the cane) left shoulder. Hans stands behind him with their cousin, Leisel.

I am still actively searching for distant family members. A few years back, David Halle found my grandfather after researching the von Halle family. David is an amateur genealogist and was one of the first relatives to reach out to our family (before the ease of a google search). David, whose family came to America before the civil war, dropped the von. David’s family is related to the founders of Halle Brothers, a popular department store in the midwest.

After I published my thesis, I was contacted by other von Halles from around the world. I have been able to place most of them on my family tree. They come from as far away as Switzerland, Australia, and South America (mostly displaced by one of the two World Wars). I am still searching for Manfred’s family in South America.